The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Vriesea plant, botanically known as Vriesea sp., hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘BRIGHT DAY’. The genus of Vriesea belongs to the Bromeliaceae family. The new Vriesea cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventors, Elly Bak and Nico D. M. Steur, in Assendelft, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop a new Vriesea variety with good growing habit and attractive inflorescence.
The new Vriesea cultivar ‘BRIGHT DAY’ originated from a cross-made in a controlled breeding program by the inventors in 1999 in Assendelft, The Netherlands. The seed parent is an unpatented Vriesea selection designated ‘910209’. The pollen parent is an unpatented Vriesea selection designated ‘99051414’. ‘BRIGHT DAY’ was discovered and selected by the inventors in December 2004, as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Assendelft, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘BRIGHT DAY’ performed by vegetative means by tissue culture was first performed in 2010, in Assendelft, The Netherlands. The first ‘BRIGHT DAY’ plants propagated through the use of tissue culture flowered in 2012, in Assendelft, The Netherlands, and have demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new cultivar reproduces true-to-type.